Leader Richard
Task
The task was coppicing work in the woods on Coopers Hill. Large
timber, wood for hedging stakes and hetherings were retained for
re-use.
The coppice also contained too many standard trees so a number
of these needed to be felled to thin out the canopy so that sufficient
light would fall on the woodland floor to enable the coppiced
trees and woodland floor plants to grow.
Site
Coopers Hill is a Gloucestershire County Council Local Nature
Reserve two miles south of Brockworth on the A46. It contains
137 acres of beech woodlands and a waymarked trail. It is a designated
Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and contains an Iron
Age settlement.
The land was purchased in 1967 to prevent further quarrying and
declared a Local Nature Reserve in 1970.
On the Day
It was a beautiful day: sunny and cold with a light breeze, ideal
conditions for working outside. Possibly as a result of this,
or perhaps New Year’s resolutions to use the ‘Green
Gym’ more, 20 willing volunteers turned out for the task.
After the formalities of the Health And Safety talk and introductions,
Julian Bendle, the warden, detailed the task and we spent the
morning coppicing and clearing the understorey of a section above
the quarry adjacent to a footpath.
After lunch, Julian provided an excellent short course on tree felling with a bow saw. He then supervised the felling to consolidate the knowledge and ensure that the trees were felled safely. Many of the trees were leaning too much to be suitable for felling with a bow saw and others were too hemmed in, so it required careful planning and execution to select the right trees to fell and to drop them on the right line to minimise damage to surrounding trees.
Overall, it was a very productive day. Everybody worked hard at a sustainable pace, the coppicing was completed and it was particularly enjoyable to learn or improve important tree felling skills including how to select trees that can be felled safely with a bow saw and which to leave well alone.
Volunteers
14 volunteers turned out for the full day and a further 6 did
at least half a day.